July is the month that teachers get to be teachers without students.
I’ve now been to five cities over the course of the last month, and saw nothing but teachers working on developing themselves as professionals and people. What’s missing in the debate over extended time in schools and summers in American schools is the lack of time teachers get to spend not worrying about the students in their care. Building time into the school week is one thing, having independent time a whole nother. During the school year, meeting with teachers helps because we can address immediate needs and concerns, make adjustments, and decompress for a second before we have to get back on the train that is the school year.
Summer, by sharp contrast, allows us to take a time out from bells, alarms, phone calls, and the hundreds of other internal and external interruptions we face as teachers and get down to business as adults. This summer, I’ve seen teachers still keep students in mind, but talk about long-term curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, teacher leadership, and all the great stuff that gets piled on our shoulders while we’re still trying to manage our class load.
Maybe we need to rethink the idea of “summers off” as a summer to unpack and refuel.
The United States already eclipses the rest of the world in time in front of students. We ought to love them (because I know I do), but my time might be better spent if policymakers didn’t keep trying to force time down our throats. We’re not babysitters, despite policy evidence to the contrary. So much of our work depends on taking time away from students to be the best teachers possible.
And, if we don’t actually want to do anything during summer? We shouldn’t be shamed for that, either. We only have two months to be our full, multilayered, and less responsible selves. To do teaching well does require a super-human effort, so if we’re just given a chance to beregular humans, we’re all the better for it come the beginning of the school year.
Summer-shaming is a thing, and I’d rather not engage in it, because when someone calls me Jose in the middle of a week day, I don’t have to correct them until at least September.
Jose
I could not teach for a living without my summers to recharge my emotional and physical batteries; to reflect deeply on my teaching; and to plan units and lessons creatively. You summed it up beautifully.
Author
Thanks, Terri!
Spot-on post. If I may add, it is also discouraging that–at least in ILL-Annoy–it seems school starts earlier every year in August (& that’s only to give teachers more time on test preparation for the Pear$on PARCC that start in March–so, you know, the kids will do better on the tests & will then be “college & career ready.”) This is particularly punishing when we go over our allotted “snow days” in all of the states that have such terrible winter weather. Then the students, of course, go longer into June.
Not much time for a “summer” vacation (one in which kids could really be kids–catch fireflies, swim, eat ice cream &, well, just enjoy childhood pleasures).
It has devolved into “July vacation.” Sigh–we were very lucky kids, once upon a time.
I feel ya! KY schools had so many snow days teachers’ last day was about June 3 or 4 (can’t recall-, I’ve blocked it from my memory) and we start back Aug 4th. Shortest summer ever and I’m feeling it.
Author
That’s wild to me. People really don’t get it. When it comes to summers, we *actually* need them, winter days or not.
I tell ‘civilians’ that the summers are when I actually have weekends!
The late, great Earl Weaver, legendary manager of the Baltimore Orioles, said “You win the pennant in September with the decisions you make in February.” Summer is indeed our ‘off-season,’ but allows us to move at impulse power vs. transwarp (nerd alert). We indeed need that pace so as to prep are ship for that 10-month sprint through that transwarp conduit called the school year.
Math-teacher trigger warning: I’m taking an on-line Pre-University Calc class to refresh those skills that get little run in middle school! One neat reminder learned in this class: direct instruction should be 8 minutes or less!
Author
You’re a brave soul, P. The pedagogy in K-12 might need improvement, but it goes double in higher ed.
It’s interesting how the exercises assume LOTS of prior knowledge. If anything it reinforces how we math teachers, like any sports coach, must demonstrate specifically what’s expected, as well as have our young charges PRACTICE deliberately before being assessed with feedback.